About Us

Parmelee's story

I grew up in Atlanta and met Anna freshman year at Vanderbilt University and we immediately became best friends. After college I headed to NYC for a job in finance while Anna moved to the West Coast. In 2009, we traveled to China together and my brother came along. Somewhere along the Great Wall they fell in love and now, my best friend is also my sister in law.

In 2012, my husband and I moved to Panama City, Panamá and I gave birth to my first child, Hampton. Everywhere we went, people always stopped to ask me where I bought his clothing. I quickly saw a need for smocked clothing in Latin America and began working on plans to open a store in Panama that would sell the cute clothing that I was used to back in the South!

As fate would have it, we moved back to Atlanta and I thought my dreams of a children’s clothing store were over. However, after complaining to Anna about my hard work going to waste, she said let’s partner together and do it in the States. Four months later, Smockingbird was officially launched on the internet and the rest is history!

Thank you for shopping with Smockingbird!

Anna's story

I grew up in South Carolina and immediately hit it off with Parmelee in college. If someone told us freshman year that we would one day be sisters-in-law and business partners I would have either laughed or rolled my eyes at the idea but here we are, a dream come true! After college I moved to LA for a career in advertising followed by several years in the Boston area to complete a Master's in Occupational Therapy.

When Parmelee shared with me her research and ideas for Smockingbird I knew we had to pursue it thinking we had nothing to lose and only to gain through the opportunity of spending time together. As a mom myself, I loved the idea of offering really cute clothes for children at unbeatable prices!